Electric Sixs raison detre has always been getting the party started and throwing it into high gear, and sometimes the way to do that is to play some songs everyone already knows and can howl along with. 2021s Streets of Gold is E6s first album in three years (an unprecedented break from recording, presumably imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic), and this time out theyve recorded an entire set of covers, along with remakes of two E6 hits (Danger! High Voltage and Gay Bar). If the Electric Six had to make a living as a bar band playing other peoples hits, Streets of Gold shows they could probably make a go of it -- the arrangements follow the originals fairly closely while still showing some of their own personality (and one thing this band has never lacked is personality), and they can generate a good beat you can dance to. Theyve also chosen a good set of songs -- while most of these numbers should be reasonably familiar to listeners, pulling Tin Machines Under the God out of the bag is a gutsy move that works, and raiding the songbooks of Roky Erickson (Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play), Love (Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale), and James Ingram (Yah Mo B There) shows theyre willing to entertain the deep cuts fans and the folks who prefer to hear INXS (Dont Change), Fleetwood Mac (Little Lies), and Alice Cooper (No More Mr. Nice Guy, which sounds pretty much perfect for Dick Valentines voice and persona). And they find a song that approximates their own level of disco-punk fervor in Kiss Strutter. ~ Mark Deming

Rovi